Cornell bounces Neshannock in Big Seven clash
Neshannock (7) vs. Cornell (22)
Written: Sep 24, 2011
By Joe Sager
New Castle News
CORAOPOLIS — Neshannock was looking to rebound last night.
The Lancers got bounced instead.
Cornell posted a 22-7 win over the visitors in a Big Seven Conference fray at Frank Letteri Stadium.
The loss keeps Neshannock (0-2 conference, 2-2 overall) winless in conference play after a promising 2-0 exhibition start.
“We didn’t play as well as I thought we should have and I was a little disappointed. But, for the most part, I am very satisfied with the way the kids play each week,” Neshannock coach Pat Cuba said. “I told the kids we have five games and let’s go ahead and play those five and get serious about what we have to do and what happens, happens. If they play hard, I won’t be disappointed.”
Cuba was hoping his troops would respond after falling to conference kingpin Sto-Rox, 43-11, last week, but the Raiders (1-1, 2-2) took control early. They scored on the game’s first drive when Shawn Owens targeted Tim Riley with a 22-yard aerial end zone strike. Dorian Maynard added the 2-point conversion jaunt for an 8-0 advantage.
“We missed tackles,” Cuba said. “We just weren’t ready to play at the beginning”.
The touchdown twirl and subsequent conversion tote gave the hosts some momentum after an emotional 38-36 setback at Western Beaver last week.
“We needed that after coming off that tough loss last week when we had a lot of fumbles and mental mistakes. We worked real hard to try to eliminate those and focus on the small things,” first-year Cornell coach Ed Dawson said. “This is a very tough conference, so any win we can get is a good win. We worked real hard on focusing to try to protect the ball. We’re still a work in progress. We’re just trying to get better each week and go one at a time.”
The Raiders turned the first half into an air raid and Owens slung the pigskin 25 times. The senior zeroed in on his targets 10 times for 141 yards.
“That’s kind of a little bit of a change for the offense,” Dawson said. “But, that was going to be one of my things when I came here — try to open things up.”
Owens pushed Cornell’s lead to 14-0 with his 9-yard TD run with 1:43 left in the first half. The conversion run failed.
Neshannock got some momentum late in the third quarter. A roughing the punter penalty sustained a drive. Eventually, the Lancers broke the drought as Michael Sanfilippo plunged into the end zone on a 1-yard quarterback keeper to trim the deficit to 14-7.
However, Owens and the Raiders retaliated 20 seconds later. On Cornell’s second play after the Neshannock TD, Owens raced 45 yards up the middle and then down the left sideline for a score. Derrick Jackson’s conversion run made it a 22-7 lead.
“We are becoming a good team at not losing our cool, which is something we had a problem with in the past,” Dawson said. “The kids are starting to relax and believe in themselves. After that touchdown, they said, ‘OK, they got one so let’s go get one ourselves.’ I love that attitude about the kids.”
The big play short-circuited the Lancers’ comeback plans.
“I thought (our touchdown) would be the turning point. But, we just didn’t do what I expected us to do. We still were in the game when it was 14-7, but we gave up that big play,” Cuba said. “That was very deflating because we had a chance. I’ll take the responsibility for that. I pulled the kids out a little bit (on defense) and that opened up the middle and their quarterback went right up it — he is a good athlete. That’s my fault.
“I tried to do some different things and make things happen and it didn’t work. When we play base, we play our best when we do what we’re supposed to do.”
Neshannock will try to refocus for Saturday’s game at Western Beaver, while Cornell travels to South Side Beaver the same day.
(E-mail: ncsports@ncnewsonline.com).
NESHANNOCK CORNELL
12 First downs 12
128 Yards Rushing 127
25 Yards Lost 23
103 Net Rushing 104
23 Passes Attempted 31
8 Passes Completed 12
3 Passes Intercepted 0
83 Yards Passing 141
186 Total Yards 245
3-1 Fumbles-Lost 3-0
5-33.4 Punts-Average 5-24.8
5-45 Penalties-Yards 8-55
NESHANNOCK 0 0 7 0 — 7
CORNELL 8 6 8 0 — 22
Scoring plays
CORNELL — Tim Riley, 22-yard pass from Shawn Owens (Dorian Maynard run).
CORNELL — Owens, 9-yard run (pass failed).
NESHANNOCK — Michael Sanfilippo, 1-yard run (John Fennick kick).
CORNELL — Owens, 45- yard run (Derrick Jackson run).
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